Perry to hire litter control workers

The city is stepping up its efforts to control litter, which is expected to result in more rights of way being mowed.

The City Council voted Tuesday to hire workers devoted to picking up litter. The cost will be $32,000 annually and is already calculated into the city’s budget for the coming year.

Mayor Jimmy Faircloth said having people pick up litter will help the city look better and will speed up efforts to mow along roadways.

“I think it’s going to make a big difference,” he said after the meeting.

The money will pay for four part-time workers.

“What’s happening is our mowers are spending an inordinate amount of time picking up litter ahead of time, so this will be a lot more efficient,” he said.

The litter has to be picked up before mowing is done because without it, the mowers scatter litter, Faircloth said.

The city has tried inmate crews in the past, he said, but there have been scheduling problems. When roadsides needed to be mowed, the crews weren’t there to pick up the litter.

City Manager Lee Gilmour also said there are only a limited number of inmate crews available, and those can cost as much or more than the city having its own part-time workers.

The workers will only be hired during the mowing season.

Also at the meeting, no residents spoke during a public hearing on the city’s proposed budget. The budget does not call for a tax increase but adds some small fee increases.

This story was originally published June 7, 2016 at 7:53 PM with the headline "Perry to hire litter control workers."